Wednesday Walk - My Little Adventure at Lake Toba

What’s up, Hivers! How y’all doing today? Hope everyone’s staying healthy and crushing the day with good vibes.

The sun’s totally out and shining bright right now. Perfect weather to head out and soak up the outdoors! So for this post, I wanna share a little story about my quick trip around Parapat City, North Sumatra, Indonesia. It was just a short little getaway, but there were so many cool views and fun moments that I just had to capture and tell y’all about!

After crashing at my friend’s place in Parapat last night, I only just realized how super close his house actually is to Lake Toba! So I ended up waking up super early this morning. Probably ‘cause the air here is so fresh, way cooler, even pretty chilly compared to where I live. Felt like such a waste to just laze around in bed, so I decided to go for a walk and soak up that morning vibe along the lake.

As soon as I got to the shore, the view instantly made me never wanna leave. The water was so calm, surrounded by rolling green hills all around. And there were already tons of tour boats lined up along the edge too. All kinds of sizes, from tiny little speedboats up to big cruise ships ready to take visitors around to see all of Lake Toba’s beauty. Even though the sky was pretty cloudy and overcast back then, the whole place still looked so stunning and peaceful. Honestly, this kind of weather made the scenery feel even more dramatic. Total perfection for snapping photos!

After wandering around the dock for ages, my curiosity just kept growing even more! So I finally worked up the nerve to ask the boat attendant if I could hop on one of the ferries that was docked there. Lucky for me they said yes. So I got to experience being out on the water, and see Lake Toba from a totally new angle!

Right around 9 AM, the ferry got ready to take folks over to Samosir Island. You know, that island sitting right in the middle of Lake Toba. There was no way I was passing that up! I didn’t even think twice, just grabbed a ticket and joined the other passengers for the ride. And the price was super friendly too, only 30,000 IDR per person, that’s like around $1.67 USD!

Once the ferry pulled away from the dock, the view that opened up was absolutely unreal. Lake Toba’s water looked so perfectly calm, and those green hills all around seemed even more majestic when you’re seeing them from right out in the middle. It felt so peaceful, like all the stress just melted away. The soft breeze blowing against my face made the short trip to Samosir feel even better. I could’ve stayed standing on that deck forever, soaking in all that stunning scenery and snapping pics every now and then!

After about 40 minutes gliding across Lake Toba, the ferry finally pulled into the Samosir Island port. Once I got off, I didn’t wander too far from the harbor area, it was pretty busy, full of folks just arriving or heading back to Parapat. Along the paths, there were tons of vendors selling all kinds of Batak souvenirs, snacks, and little trinkets for visitors.

Out of all the spots on Samosir, I only had time to visit one this trip, the Tombs of the Batak Kings. This place is such a huge piece of history, back in the day, the whole Lake Toba region was the heart of Batak kingdoms. Seeing those stone tombs still standing strong after all this time made me wonder what life was like for Batak people hundreds of years ago. They’re estimated to be centuries old, and some are believed to date back way further than that!

There’s honestly so much more I wanna check out here, traditional villages, hilltop views of the lake, all those famous cultural sites. But most of those places are pretty far from the port and I need a ride to get there. Since my travel budget was running low, I decided to just enjoy what I could see today, and save the rest as a perfect excuse to come back later!

Even though I only visited one spot on the island, this trip was still so memorable. Seeing Lake Toba’s beauty from the water, setting foot on the world’s biggest volcanic island, and getting to see real traces of the Batak Kingdoms up close, experiences I won’t ever forget.

That’s all for this little travel story! Thanks so much, Hivers, for stopping by and reading all the way through. Catch you on the next adventure!